


For you and I are past our dancing days

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, I make a reference to All Our Yesterday’s, I rewatched it last night and I wrote this in a hurry XD, One Shot, Sorry no Spock in this one, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - Freeform, Two old men being very tired and cold, basically just a coda, bonding time with my boys, i guess, or rather Bones does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 02:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20734472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: McCoy and Kirk on Rura Penthe, after they escape the prison, but before they are rescued.





	For you and I are past our dancing days

'_For now is the winter of our discontent_ _,_' his mind supplies rather unhelpfully. Kirk huffs wryly and leans into the wind, the howling relentless gusts pushing him so that he slides back against the snow. For every step forward, he is thrown at least two steps back, the cold ice sticking to the furs on his feet. He can just make out the shape of their so-called rescuer in the dim arctic light, the snowfall doing its best to make sure he loses sight of her. He ducks his head in an attempt to keep the wind out of his face, lashes wet and freezing, like threads of ice on his dry chilled cheeks. For a moment, his breath puffs warm and humid, before the frozen wasteland that is Rura Penthe rips it away from him with it’s cold stinging teeth.

He stumbles, but manages to keep his footing, despite the best efforts of the heavy chains around his ankles. Kirk glances back, pausing to catch his breath as McCoy struggles to keep up. 

He reaches out, hands fisting around his companion's arm, pulling him forwards. Bones sags against him, utterly spent. 

Kirk shouts, throwing his words into the wind, words which were quickly whipped away by the blizzard, "Martia! We need a break!" 

She turns, frowning, intending to argue, but she seems to sense that the good doctor is on the verge of collapse, "We can’t stay sitting long!" She turns, surveying the endless white horizon before settling on a small grey rock in the distance, "That outcropping- over there will do!" 

Kirk pulls McCoy to him who grumbles weakly, voice teetering, "A- about d- damn time!" 

Martia strides forward, her stamina enviable as her tall figure cuts through the storm with infuriating ease. Kirk slowly trails behind her, feet shuffling in the vast bleak expanse, his iron grip on the crook of McCoy's elbow not easing until they reach the small rock. It’s indented, making a shallow cave, several smaller snow covered boulders blocking the entrance from the furious howling wind. 

Martia nods, "We'll stay here until the worst of it has passed." She shifts, moving over to one of the corners. Kirk raises an eyebrow, certainly nothing to combat Spock's pointed expressions or Bones' incredulous looks, but apparently it is tolerable enough to get an answer out of her. She winks, "Gotta catch up on lost sleep." With that, she turns over and within moments, she is snoring far too softly for such a huge form.

Kirk settles in the opposite corner, sliding down the icy walls until he hits rock. McCoy nearly collapses beside him, shivering in the cold air, the chains around his thin ankles clanking. 

It is times like these that Kirk is reminded rather harshly that he is younger than McCoy. Bones has more than a few years over him, and normally they didn’t weigh on him as much. Now, in the wintry fog of Rura Penthe, he can clearly see the lines of age on his friend's face. They pull at the corners of his mouth like the heavy chains on his feet, old bones and old sinew and skin, all too susceptible to the merciless ice. 

Bones shifts, pulling at the gloves on his hands. Kirk starts, protests leaping to his lips, McCoy stops him with a look, stony blue eyes putting him in his place, "Calm down, Jim. I’m jus' heating them up the old fashioned way." He finally wrenches his sodden mittens off of his long fingers, blowing on them and sighing at the small relief, "You should give 'em a chance to dry, Jim. Wet clothes is a death sentence out here." 

Kirk blinks, "But, your hands!" 

Bones rolls his eyes, "I’m not going to be poking them out in the snow. It’ll do me more harm than good keeping them all wet and cold." 

Kirk reluctantly relents, Bones is the doctor here, after all.

Still, he can’t help but worry. 

Bones' hands _do_ shake , slender knuckles knobbed and warped with age, frail against the fast fading light. They are the hands of a healer and they have no business being here on this planet that is little more than glorified tomb. 

They are old. Far too old to still be doing this. Yet again, Kirk curses himself for letting McCoy come along with him to the Klingon ship. He should’ve ordered him to stay behind, not that he would’ve listened- Bones had a bad habit of only listening to his Captain when it pleased him. Still, McCoy was tiring but still loyal to his Captain, far too  _old_ to be following him into the wars he was dragged into, to still be stitching up his messes. 

"Jim, if it bothers you that much, I'll put them back on." 

Kirk frowns, meeting McCoy's eyes, "What was that, Bones?" 

The doctor nods, crows feet crinkling, "I said if it bothers you that much, I’ll put the damn mittens back on." 

"What?" 

Bones seems to realize he’s confused him, "Jim, you've staring at my hands for the past five minutes. Could’ve sworn you were boring holes in 'em." 

Kirk shakes his head, "No, no Bones, it's fine- I- I was just..." he sighs and peers into McCoy's wide blue eyes as if they hold all his answers, "Why are we here, Bones?"

McCoy snorts one corner of his mouth lifting upwards slyly, shifting closer to conserve body heat, "Don't tell me you’ve already forgotten the damnable Klingons, Jim?" 

He chuckles before seriousness wipes away his amusement, "No, I mean... Why are we  _here_? " A sigh and he continues, "We had three months. Three months until the end. Why all this? Why  now? " 

McCoy barks a laugh, loud and sharp against the bleak wasteland. It startles Kirk so much so that he jerks backwards, knocking McCoy's bony shoulder away. He frowns, "What’s so funny?" 

McCoy shakes his head, leaning back against him, "Oh, Jim. We all  _knew_ you wouldn’t go out without a bang. We’ve all been secretly waiting for the other shoe to drop and I knew when that damn Vulcan walked in and they told us we'd be escorting the Klingon High Chancellor that this was  it . This was Jim Kirk's last hurrah." 

He frowns, words colored with amusement, "Bones, you don’t really mean that, do you?" 

McCoy shifts, raising an imperious eyebrow, which honestly, if weaponized, would’ve been the Federation's deadliest weapon, "Jim, you’re a magnet for trouble. Why it’s my philosophy in life that if Jim Kirk is in the thick of something important, it’s best to pack extra hyposprays, no matter how peaceful an event I’m assured it will be." 

Kirk seemed a little offended, "Why, Bones!" 

McCoy shook his head, "Now, Jim, don’t act all high and mighty. I’ll have you know that Spock did in fact corner me about it once. He noticed I was a little  _too_ prepared for the type of medical emergencies we'd had on the away mission." He snorted, "I believe I’ve forgotten what planet it was." A sigh and, "Maybe I am a little too old for this." 

Kirk waited patiently and McCoy returned to his story, "Anyway, if you’d believe it, the damn Vulcan agreed with me! He said something like, 'That is an admirable idea, Doctor, and, if I were human, I would be displeased that I had not thought of it first.' Which of course, I had to point out he was half-human, the smug bastard, and then after er, a few more words were exchanged, we got around to coordinating what he should have a nurse bring if I had to stay on board." 

Leonard's Spock impressions were a little  _too_ good after what the doctor referred to as the 'thrice damned Katra incident.' Still, despite the touch of eeriness, Kirk couldn’t help the twitch of his lips, which stubbornly evened out into a wide crooked smile. 

Bones frowned at him, snapping, "What th' hell are you smiling about, Jim?" 

"Oh, just the idea of my first officer and my CMO getting along, thats all."

Bones sniffed, "I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jim. We always get along." He blew on his shaking fingers again, frowning at them as if the heat of his glare could make them warmer. 

Kirk's smiled softened, "Of course, you do. Don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner."

Bones blinked, squinting at the captain skeptically, "What was that?" 

"Oh, nothing, Bones. Just thinking." 

He snorted, "Don’t know how you can think with all this damned cold!" He muttered against his slightly warmer hands, "A wilderness of arctic characteristics, my ass." 

The two huddled together for quite some time, at least until Martia rolled to her feet, yawned and then told them it was time to get a move on. McCoy pulled his gloves back on, wincing at the wet cold pulling on his hands already. 

Kirk stood, holding out a hand which Bones took, the pair steadying each other. He eyes the dancing snow dubiously, letting slip a weary sigh, "And summer's lease hath all too short a date." 

The doctor snarls, "You got that right." 

McCoy stumbles, wincing as he stretched, back sore from the cold rock, "Definitely too damned old for this." 

Kirk smiles softly, "Too tired for these old bones, Bones?" 

McCoy levels a glower on him that could flatten several cities. 

Kirk laughs, actually laughs at that, and, supporting each other, the pair step out into the snow. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on tumblr here, where I’m always ready and willing to scream about Star Trek:  
https://ford-ye-fiji.tumblr.com/


End file.
